‘To me, this feels like the right time to leave,’ said the 22-year-old, who made his debut for Feyenoord in August 2010.

‘I now have over a hundred games for the club and have played at a World Cup. I have said from the beginning that I hoped if I ever made the next step in my career it would be for the best of me and the club.

‘Feyenoord have benefited financially from my departure while I can take on a new challenge in Portugal.

We felt that Manchester United would possibly move for the player having seen him perform so well at The World Cup.

As well as being powerful and quick he’s also adaptable and can play in a couple of positions across the defence.

We assume that, with LvG taking the reins, Manchester United would have had first refusal on Martins Indi – a close ally of the manager – however Van Gaal obviously didn’t feel that he was quite good enough to come to Manchester United at this point his career.

With Daryl Janmaat also moving to Newcastle perhaps Stefan De Vrij will be the Holland defender who ends up at Manchester United this autumn.

Let’s have a look at De Vrij in action. Manchester United fans: would this guy be good enough to bring into the defence at Old Trafford?